Gaming Secrets: Possible Portable Battlefield From DICE?

DICE appear to be expanding its horizons to mobile devices with the seeming intent of bringing Battlefield franchise to mobile devices, according to job postings that went up on the developer's site last week. The FPS series has appeared on mobiles twice before.

First, there was a version of Bad Company 2 and a multiplayer-oriented Battlefield 3 spin-off that was removed from the App Store because it was broken -- via Spanish mobile developers Digital Legends, but DICE has never actually developed a mobile title in-house. And there was also Canabalt-inspired take on Mirror's Edge handled by Australia's IronMonkey Studios.

An opening for a mobility usability designer states that DICE is looking to "construct a world class gaming experience" that "is optimal in terms of accessibility and immersion for mobile and touch screen devices." Additionally, the copy on the application programmer posting says "it is [DICE's] ambition to expand outside the HD platforms and deliver the same quality experience on mobile devices," and the mobile team is "a small team within a major franchise [Editor's note: presumably Battlefield, because what else have they got?]."

The Stockholm-based studio also has a mobile online programmer posting whose responsibilities include "[integrating] mobile platform[s] with existing online and backend systems" and working on "online features such as authentication, matchmaking, server browser, statistics, etc. for DICE‚Äôs future products." This may hint that DICE wants to give the multiplayer-only Battlefield mobile game another go, but perhaps this time create something that ties to the Battlelog ecosystem where a player can collect XP and stats from matches on the go that feed into their console experience and vice versa a la FIFA's EA Sports Football Club feature.

Finally, DICE is hiring for a mobile Frostbite engineer who "will be part of a team focusing on bringing Frostbite to mobile platforms and work closely with game team customers and the Frostbite team to deliver an engine as great on mobile platforms as it is on traditional HD platforms." Although Frostbite was initially just the engine for the Battlefield franchise, the engine is now the backbone for an increasingly diverse array of EA titles like Need for Speed, Command & Conquer and Dragon Age III -- could we see complementary mobile experiences for those franchises that tie to console or PC counterparts, or at least more ambitious mobile spin-offs (i.e. a Dragon Age game that riffs on Infinity Blade)?

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Wisconsin developer Human Head Studios' seems to be bleeding talent -- something that could throw their future as a AAA developer into doubt. Last month, the studio's COO -- who was "leading the company in Business Development, Product Development, Marketing and PR" -- and development director left.

Despite Human Head and Bethesda's insistence that Prey 2 is still a thing that will see release at some point, thirty-something developers are probably not enough manpower to handle development of a AAA open-world sandbox title with far more complex systems and more content than your typical linear action game, especially if Prey 2 still has a ways to go quality-wise as the publisher claims. Also, recent passive-aggressive tweetsfrom Human Heademployees do not exactly inspire the much confidence that the contractual dispute between the developer and Bethesda has even been resolved at this point.

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A handful of CVs appear to lend credence to Eurogamer's recent report that suggested the recently shuttered Sony Liverpool studio was working on two next-generation PlayStation 4 titles -- a radically different Wipeout title and a Splinter Cell-esque stealth game -- at the time of closure.

One former Studio Liverpool environmental artist states on his CV that he worked on both an "Unannounced third-person" game for Vita and "Unannounced racing game" for an unspecified "Next gen" platform during his fifteen months at the studio. Another artist says some of his work involved "an as yet unannounced platform".

A former Liverpool programmer, describes the binned efforts as "multiplayer multiplatform projects". Another programmer mentions working on "an unannounced future racing title" after wrapping up work on Wipeout 2048 for the Vita.

Lastly, a former senior designer indicates that the studio was working on a "third-person action/beat-em-up for PlayStation Vita" before they ended up bringing Wipeout to the portable, and following Wipeout 2048's completion, he "moved onto an unpublished third-person action/stealth game".

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Finally, a LinkedIn profile of a former art director at EA Mobile's Romania studio says he worked on an unreleased iPhone version of the classic Bullfrog strategy franchise Populous. Depending on one's point view this could be tragic or welcome news. Would this have been a fairly serious iOS port that represented the brand's original vision, or some sort of bastardisation built around freemium gameplay?

It is perhaps worth noting that the Populous name did show up on a supposed EA Partners internal marketing wiki earlier this year. Since EA Partners' purview is externally-developed titles, the game alluded to in that Wiki is likely not the one EA Romania worked on, and there still might be a chance that the brand could be reduced to a social game.

superannuation is a self-described "internet extraordinaire" residing somewhere in the Pacific Time Zone. He tweets, and can be reached at heyheymayday AT gmail DOT com.

Comments

Before BF3 came out I put a HUUUGE post on the EA forums sharing an idea for a mobile game that contributed XP to a players game progression. The point was that a lot of hardcore gamers will waste time with casual games on their phones. Why not give them something that contributes to their primary gaming activity.

Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a
few of the pictures aren't loading correctly. I'm not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
I've tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same outcome.